Another article demonstrates how this is similar to a generic function. In F#, for instance, the type of the function would be written as 'a -> 'b, whereas in Haskell it'd be written a -> b. The way to read this is that the function takes a value of the generic type T1/'a/a as input, and returns a value of the generic type T/'b/b as output. For the rest of this article, I'll favour the Haskell syntax, since it has minimal noise.

To be clear, however, although I favour the Haskell syntax because of its succinctness, I don't mean to imply that the functions that I discuss are exclusively pure - think of an F# function 'a -> 'b which may or may not be pure.

Binary combination of functions

A function a -> b is a monoid if b is a monoid. This means that you can combine two functions with the same type. In an object-oriented context, it means that you can combine two methods with the same signature into one method as long as the return type forms a monoid.

Consider the following (facetious) C# example. You're trying to establish how secure a GUID is. Primes are important in cryptography, so the more primes a GUID contains, the better... right?

The CountPrimes method counts the number of prime digits in a given GUID. So far so good, but you also think that hexadecimal notation is more exotic than decimal notation, so surely, the digits A-F are somehow more secure, being more unfamiliar. Thus, you have a method to count those as well:

In this property-based test, FsCheck generates three functions with the same signature. Since functions don't have structural equality, the easiest way to compare them is to call them and see whether they return the same result. This explains why the assertion invokes both associative combinations with guid. The test passes.

In order to be a monoid, Combine must also have an identity element. It does:

publicstaticFunc<Guid, int> FuncIdentity = _ => 0;

This is simply a function that ignores its input and always returns 0, which is the identity value for addition. The following test demonstrates that it behaves as expected:

As was the case with CombineIsAssociative, in order to assert that the combined functions behave correctly, you have to call them. This, again, explains why the assertion invokes the combined functions with guid. This test passes as well.

Combine is a monoid.

Generalisation

While the above C# code is only an example, the general rule is that any function that returns a monoid is itself a monoid. In Haskell, this rule is articulated in the standard library:

instance Monoid b => Monoid (a -> b)

This means that for any monoid b, a function a -> b is also (automatically) a monoid.

Summary

A function or method with a return type that forms a monoid is itself a monoid.

Wish to comment?

You can add a comment to this post by sending me a pull request. Alternatively, you can discuss this post on Twitter or Google Plus, or somewhere else with a permalink. Ping me with the link, and I may add it as a comment.